Status and development of robotization research on roadheader for coal mines

Based on the requirements of intelligent and unmanned development of coal mine roadway,the development status of three heading operation lines of the cantilever roadheader comprehensive heading technology,the continuous miner heading technology and the roadheader anchor integrated heading technology are reviewed. According to the national plan of coal mining robots in the “Key Catalogue of Coal Mine Robots R & D” issued by National Coal Mine Safety Administration,the paper analyzes the characteristics of robotization of coal mining machines from three levels of perception,decision making,and execution. The heading robots collect and sense the environmental information of underground roadways,analyze and solve the tasks at the decision-making level,and integrate the environmental information transmitted by the perception level to formulate and plan the most suitable control strategy. The execution level receives the instructions from the decision level,and positions the robotized heading group. Posture and movement are controlled. The key technologies of the robotized heading group are systematically explained: the autonomous positioning of the heading robot,the coal and rock identification and automatic cutting,the remote monitoring and fault detection,etc. ;the automatic support technology for temporary support robots;the parallel drilling anchors for drilling and anchoring robots technology;and the synchronous transportation technology for auxiliary loading and transportation robots,etc. With the comparison and analysis of advanced robotized heading equipment and groups in other countries,combined with the current status of heading technology and equipment in China’s coal mine roadways,this paper puts forward the development ideas and research directions of the robotization technology and equipment of coal mine heading machines: impact cracking-rapid heading technology;remote forward exploration-accurate inertial navigation technology;new equipment for coordinated excavation support-self-adapted roof protection;and new equipment for drilling and anchoring-intelligent anchoring to realize the rapid heading technology of the robotized excavation group for exploration-heading-support-anchor-transport cooperative operation,and finally achieve the goal of less and unmanned mine heading operations.